Articles and comments by Fadi Zanayed, a Moderate Palestinian, about the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict

Thursday, December 13, 2012

ARE ISRAELI SOLDIERS TERRORISTS?

Several days ago, a Palestinian youth turned 17 years old;
he died on his birthday. While at the
Occupier's Checkpoint in ElKhalil, Palestine, the Occupying Soldiers shot him
dead with numerous bullets. They then spewed the propaganda that the
Palestinian youth had a toy gun and pointed it at them. How implausible is this story by the
occupiers?

First, where is this toy gun? Wouldn't the occupiers show
the toy gun with the story to make their case believable? Second, how can a
Palestinian youth, born and raised with fear in his heart from the occupying
soldiers, be that unsophisticated to allegedly brandish a toy gun against an
occupying soldier? The toy gun was
conjured up by the occupiers as they stated he got it because of his
birthday. Now, had the occupiers said he
brandished a real gun, that may be more
acceptable. Years of built up frustration against the occupying soldiers could
lead a Palestinian youth to try to kill his occupiers. That I can believe, but
to say he had a toy gun--that's crazy.

Now in a discussions with various Occupying soldier supporters,
I raised the hypocrisy of how the recent Oregon Mall shooting was not labeled a
terrorist act but would have been so if that same act occurred in a Tel Aviv
mall. The definition that was offered by the Israeli supporters for terrorism was
"intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or
non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a
government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act."
I suspect that this was copied from some
authoritative source.

Using this definition, I raised the question can you agree
that the purpose of the Israeli soldier is to instill fear in the civilian
Palestinians? Then I asked, given this
definition, whether the Israeli occupying soldier that killed the Palestinian
youth in ElKhalil, Palestine would be considered a “terrorist?”

It is undisputed that in the 45 years of occupation of the
West Bank and Gaza (I consider Gaza still under occupation) the Israeli
occupying soldiers (and the Uzi taunting illegal settlers) have caused “death
or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants,” i.e. the Palestinian
population. I challenge anyone to argue otherwise.

What is then the purpose of the Israeli soldier?

Before I answer this question, let me say that if Israel
could have morally annexed the West Bank into Israel, they would have enacted
such legislation decades ago. They have not because they have no legal standing
to do so. They want to annex the West
Bank into Israel and have employed the systematic illegal policy of confiscation
of Palestinian land, claiming that the land is “disputed.” But no one is buying this argument.

Another tactic that Israel is employing, and this is where
the Israeli occupying soldier comes in, is to force the Palestinians to leave
the West Bank—at least as many as possible.

What tactic does the occupier employ?

Fear!

The intent of the Israeli occupying soldier of the West Bank
is to instill fear, i.e. intimidating a population or compelling…to do or
abstain from doing any act." The intent is to instill fear into
Palestinians to control them and to make their lives so miserable that they
would do an act that they would not normally do, i.e. leave the land.

Therefore, it is logical, given the definition of terrorist
given to me by Israeli supporters, that the Israeli occupying soldier is a
terrorist. He/she is there to do one
thing: to control the Palestinian
population, to intimidate them, to make their lives miserable.

How is this accomplished?

The West Bank is dotted with hindering and dehumanizing
military checkpoints manned by occupying soldiers that purposefully subject
Palestinians to harassment and demoralization.
It is a systematic daily policy that is carried out 24/7, 365 days a
year. At any given time, even in the middle
of night, Israeli occupying soldiers can knock down the front door of any
Palestinian and search and seize whatever they want and haul away any
Palestinian to jail under the pretext of administrative detention. If this is not fear, a constant fear every
second of every day of a Palestinian’s life, I do not know what fear is.

Thus, if fear is the purpose of the presence of the Israeli
soldier in the West Bank, he must be a terrorist.

About Me

Fadi Zanayed is an author, poet, community activist and an attorney since 1985. A graduate from Loyola University with a B.S. in Managerial Accounting and a minor in Political Science in 1983, he received his law degree from Loyola School of Law in 1985. A Palestinian American whose family originates from Ramallah, Palestine, Fadi Zanayed is an active and proud member of the Arab American community with a long history of community leadership and service. They include: Founding Member of Arab-American Bar Association of Illinois, Inc.; Former Regional Director & Past President, Chicago Chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee; Past President of the Chicago Chapter of the Palestinian American Congress; Past National Secretary of the Palestinian American Congress; Past President of the Chicago Club of Ramallah, Palestine; Past Member of the Board of the American Federation of Ramallah, Palestine; Past President of the American Youth Federation of Ramallah, Palestine. He is the author of Cycle of Frustration: A collection of poems about Palestine; and Betrayal, Sorrow and Tomorrow (pen name: Chris F. Wollinks).